Walker stroller



Dec. 7, 1965 M. K. HARMON, JR 3,222,031

WALKER STROLLER Filed Dec. 6, 1963 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ivy/PA S" Dec. 7, 1965 M, K. HARMON, JR 3,222,081

WALKER STROLLER Filed Dec. 6, 1963 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 7, 1965 HARMCN,JR 3,222,081

WALKER STROLLER Filed Dec. 6, 1963 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN VEN TOR.

Dec. 7, 1965 M. K. HARMON, JR

WALKER STROLLER 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec.

INVENTOR.

7, M. K. HARMON, J

WALKER STROLLER Filed Dec. 6, 1963 United States Patent 3,222,081 WALKERSTROLLER Major K. Harmon, Jr., Cincinnati, Uhio, assignor to The FrankF. Taylor Company, Cincinnati, Ghio, a corpora: tion of Ghio Filed Dec.6, 1963, Ser. No. 328,597 3 Ciaims. (Ci. 28il36) This invention relatesto a walker stroller.

A walker stroller is a small vehicle which is used by an adult to propela child in a sitting or comfortably reclining position. In addition to aseat for carrying the child, provision is usually made for a removablefootrest having a lower position for the child as he sits up and havingan elevated position which enables the child to recline with his legsoutstretched. The footrest is normally removable so that as the childgrows older he can propel himself about by pushing his feet against theground.

There are a number of necessary or at least desirable features whichmust be incorporated into the walker stroller design in order for it tobe acceptable as a useful article. Principal among these is thecharacteristic of ruggedness which enables the walker stroller towithstand the rigors of rather hard usage. It is not unusual for afamily to have more than one child and to use the Walker strolleracquired for the first child with all subsequent children. Not only isthe walker stroller used a great deal in this manner, but additionallyit is not unusual for the older, but still small, children to wheel thewalker stroller around carrying either their dolls or siblings. That useof the walker stroller is somewhat less than careful and normallyinvolves banging of the walker stroller into obstacles encounteredduring the play. For a walker stroller to have a long, useful life, itmust be structurally sound and able to withstand such usage.

Another feature of the walker stroller which has practically become anecessity is the ability of the walker stroller to be folded from anupright normal condition to a substantially flat condition in which itcan be transported or conveniently stored. This feature requires thepivoting of most of the structural elements with respect to each otherwith the pivot pins forming the locus of stress concentration. Becauseof the hard usage which I the walker stroller receives, it is notunusual for the structural failure of the stroller to occur at thepivoted joints.

Several walker stroller designs employ legs which are crossed inscissors fashion and pivoted intermediate their ends, the ends of thelegs supporting wheels on which the walker stroller is rolled. It is theintermediate pivot pin interconnecting the crossed legs which receivesthe greatest concentration of stress and which is most likely to fail.If it does not fail, the joint at least becomes so loose as to make theentire structure rather wobbly.

An objective of the invention has been to provide a walker strollerhaving as its principal elements legs which are crossed in scissorsfashion, the lower ends of the legs being jointed together by ahorizontal frame member. The horizontal member absorbs much of the shockand vibration which the stroller receives as it is being used. Thisshock absorptive characteristic greatly relieves the concentration ofstress on the rivet joining the crossed legs and therefore acts toincrease the useful life of the stroller to a great extent. Thus, therequirement of rugged construction is satisfied.

It has been another objective of the invention to provide a shockabsorbing horizontal frame member in the walker stroller of the typedescribed above, the frame member including telescoping side tubes whichpermit the walker stroller to be folded to a flat condition as well asto an upright, erect condition suitable for normal use.

Another area of concern in the walker stroller is the footrest. Asindicated above, the footrest should be removable and it should beadapted to be easily shifted from a lower position to an upper position,and when shifted to an upper position it should remain in that positionagainst inadvertent jarring. It has been an objective of the presentinvention to provide a footrest which is shiftable from the lower to theupper position merely by pulling up and forward on the front end of thefootrest. The footrest can be locked in the upper position by pulling itforward an inch or so until cooperating re leasable detents are engaged.To lower the footrest requires nothing more than the reverse procedure,that is, the pushing of the footrest in a rearward direction until thedetents are released. A slight additional push drops the footrest to thelower position.

Still another area of concern resides in the brakes. In the past, thestroller brakes have been somewhat complicated spring-loaded linkageshaving an over-center position in which a brake shoe is spring-urgedagainst the rear wheel. When new, the prior brakes have functionedreasonably satisfactory, but age and usage afiect the articulation ofthe members and the force which the spring is able to develop to applythe brake shoe against the wheel until the brake becomes less thancompletely satisfactory.

It has been another objective of the invention to provide an improvedbrake for walker strollers which is constituted by a single leverpivoted to the structure on which the wheel is mounted, the brake shoehaving a lever at one end which is engageable with the wheel tire andwhich can be forced flush against the tire while the resilience of therubber permits the tire to be compressed. With this structure, it isactually the resilience of the tire which provides the spring action bywhich the brake is maintained. The end of the lever remote from thebrake shoe is adapted to be engaged by the operators foot to effect thepivoting of the lever and the disengagement of the brake shoe from thetire. Since the brake requires only a single member and requires noovercenter spring action to effect the application of braking force, itis not subject to failure after long usage.

These and other objectives of the invention will become more readilyapparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention,

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are diagrammatic views of the frame with the non-frameparts omitted to illustrate the cooperation of the frame elements infolding the stroller,

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the stroller,

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view partly in section illustrating apartially folded condition of the stroller,

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary rear elevational view partly in sectionillustrating the wheel and axle structure and the manner in which it isattached to the frame.

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the brake structure,

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the articulated leg joint and releasable lock,taken along line 99 of FIGURE 5,

FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view taken along line 10--10 of FIG. 9,

FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view similar to FIG. 10 with the lockremoved to illustrate the articulation of the joint, and

FIGS. 12, 13, 14 and 15 are fragmentary perspective views of thefootrest mounting structure.

Referring to FIG. 1, the walker stroller is constituted by a frame towhich caster-type forward wheels 21 and rear wheels 22 are attached. Aseat 23 is supported on the frame and it is adapted to be adjusted froman upright to a reclining position, as is more specifically described incopending application Serial No. 191,887, filed May 2, 1962, and nowabandoned. A footrest 24 is also mounted on the frame and is adapted tobe moved between an upright position, as shown in FIGURE 1, to a lowerposition as will be described below. A U- shaped telescoping handle 25is provided to permit the stroller to be propelled. A removable basket26 may also be provided for carrying packages.

The frame The frame 20 comprises a pair of forward legs 30 and a pair ofrearward legs 31, one at each side of the stroller, the forward andrearward legs being crossed intermediate their ends and pivoted by a pin32 to provide a scissors action permitting the stroller to be folded toa flat condition as will be described below. Each rearward leg has anupper section 33 which is pivoted at its upper end 34 by a pin 35 to thefront end of a U-shaped seat frame 36. Similarly, each forward leg 30has an upper section 38 which is pivoted at its upper end 39 by a pin 40to the rearwardly projecting ends 41 of the U-shaped seat frame 36.

The forward legs are pivoted at their lower ends 44 by a pin 45 to aU-shaped tubular member 46 which forms a forward wheel mount for thewheels 21 and to which a bumper 47 is fixed as by welding or riveting tothe tubular member. The tubular member 46 includes rearwardly extendingtubes 50, one at each side of the stroller, each of which telescopicallyand slidably receives a rearward horizontal member 51, the two members51 forming wheel mounts for the rear wheels 22. The wheels 22 aresecured to the ends of an axle 52, the axle passing through the ends 53of the rearward horizontal members.

The rearward legs 31 have their lower ends 54 secured to the axle 52 asbest illustrated in FIGURE 7. The rearward horizontal members 51 andrear legs 31 are spaced from each other by bushings 55 which areslidably mounted on the axle 52.

The upper section 38 of the forward legs 30 is split into an upper part60, which is integral with the handle 25, and a lower part 61. The twoparts are normally joined together by a bifurcated sleeve 62 which issecured by rivets 63 at its lower end to the lower part 61. The upperend of the sleeve 62 is pivotally secured to the upper part by a rivet64. As best illustrated in FIGURES 9-11, the upper and lower parts 60and 61 are normally held in alignment by a slidable bolt 67 which iscarried in the upper part 60 and is slidable into the position of FIGURE10 in which its forward end 68 projects into the lower part 61.

A spring 69 has one end 70 bearing against the rivet 64 and the otherend 71 inserted into a recess 72 in the upper end of the bolt 67. Thespring 69 normally urges the bolt into the locking position of FIGURE10. An operating knob 74 is fixed by a pin 75 to the bolt 67, the pinriding in a slot 76 in the lower surface of the upper part 60.

The release of the bolt 67 from its position of engagement with thelower part 61, shown in FIGURE 10, is

4. effected by pulling the knob 74 from right to left as viewed inFIGURE 10. When the bolt is slid to the left, the upper part 60,including the integral handle 25, can be pivoted clockwise through anangle of about 170 until the handle lies substantially flat against theforward leg 30 as shown in FIGURE 11. It is this action which effectsthe folding of the stroller to a collapsed condition. It should beobserved that the knobs 74 on each side of the stroller are in an easilyaccessible position which requires only that the operator lean overslightly, pull the knobs upwardly while pushing the handle forwardlywith his arms until the upper and lower parts have been separated andpivoted with respect to each other through a slight angle. Thereafter,folding is completed by pushing forward and down on the handle.

As illustrated in FIGURES 2-4, the pivoting of the upper and lower parts60 and 61 permits the folding of the upper triangular trussconfiguration of the frame which is constituted by the seat frame 36 andthe two upper leg sections 33 and 38. The folding of the lowertriangular truss section constituted by the forward and rearward legs 30and 31, the tubular member 46 and the rearward telescoping member 51, ispermitted by the sliding engagement of the member 51 into the tubes 50.A partially folded condition is illustrated in FIGURE 3. It can be seenby comparing FIGURE 3 to FIGURE 2 that in partially folding, the member51 has begun to withdraw from the tube 50 on each side of the stroller.Referring now to FIGURE 4, which shows the stroller in a completelyfolded condition, the member 51 is in a fully extended condition withrespect to the tube 50. A spring-urged pin-in-hole lock of the typeconventionally used in telescoping handles could be used to fix themember 51 in the tube 50 when the stroller is erect as in FIGURE 2.

When the stroller is in the erect condition of FIGURE 2, the frameelements combine to provide two triangular truss sections which providea rugged support for the stroller and which tend to relieve the stressnormally applied to the intermediate rivet 32 which joins the forwardand rearward legs in scissors fashion. The combination of thearticulated upper section 38 and the telescoping members 46 and 51permit the truss sections to be folded with respect to each other tobring the stroller to the flat condition of FIGURE 4.

The brake The brake is best illustrated in FIGURE 8. As described above,the rearward horizontal member 51 provides a wheel mount for the rearwheels 22 in supporting the axle 52 to which the wheel is secured. Thewheel includes a tire 80 which is of an elastically deformable resilientrubber. The brake is a single element lever 81 which is pivoted by a pin82 on the wheel mount 51. The rearward end of the lever 81 is L-shaped(see FIG- URE 1) to provide a flange 83 having a flat surface 84 whichacts as a brake shoe. The distance between the pivot axis of pin 82 andthe surface 84 is slightly, greater than the distance between the pivotaxis and the peripheral surface of the tire 80. These dimensions providethat when the lever 81 is in the full line position of FIG- URE 8, thebrake shoe is pressed into the peripheral surface of the tire 80 whichdeforms the tire. The deformation of the tire coupled with itsresilience provides a spring action tending to hold the brake shoe inthe braking position.

The lever 81 has an end 85 remote from the brake shoe 83 which serves asan operating arm for the brake lever 81. When the brake is in operativeengagement with the tire, the end 85 projects upwardly above the tire ina position which is easily accessible to the foot of the operator sothat it can be depressed, thereby pivoting the brake lever 81 in aclockwise direction to the released position shown in broken lines 86.

Footrest The footrest 24 is a grill work formed of a plurality oflongitudinal extending spaced rods 90 which are welded at their forwardends to a U-shaped frame 91 and to an intermediate transverse rod 92 anda rear transverse rod 93. The U-shaped frame 91 has a lateral rod 94 ateach side thereof which is indented at 95 to receive a U-shaped frontsupport 96. The front support 96 has a bight portion 97 which isconfined between the longitudinal rods 90 and the indentations 95 toprovide a pivot connection of the support 96 with the footrest. Thesupport 96 has lower ends 98 which are pivotally connected to the U-shaped tubular member 46 as illustrated in FIGURE 1.

A U-shaped rear support 99 has ends 100 pivotally engaged on therearward legs 31. The front and rear supports 96 and 99 respectively arepreferably formed of a resilient steel which permits their ends to bepressed toward each other to release them from their pivotal connectionto the supporting frame members to effect the removal of the footrest.The rear support 99 has a bight portion 101 on which the rearward end ofthe footrest is supported. The bight portion 101 is held against thefootrest by a pair of laterally spaced Z-shaped rods 102. The bightportion 101 and the Z-shaped rods 102 have cooperating right angle bends103 and 104 respectively which facilitate a pivoting action between thefootrest and the rear support as will be described below.

The rear support has side rods 105 which are indented as at 106 toprovide detents which are engageable with studs 107 formed as lateralextensions of the rear transverse rod 93. The cooperating detents 106and studs 107 provide a releasable lock to maintain the footrest in anupright position illustrated in FIGURE The forward end of the footrestis formed to provide a shoulder 108 which is engageable with theU-shaped tubular member 46 and, in combination with the rear support 99,supports the footrest in its lower position illustrated in FIGURE 12.

The manipulation of the footrest is quite simple. In moving the footrestfrom the lower position of FIGURE 12 to the upper position of FIGURE 15,the operator merely pulls upwardly and forwardly on the front end of thefootrest. When that upward and forward pull is applied, the rear supportswings up in a counterclockwise direction and the forward support 96swings up in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURES 12-15. In theupward movement, as best illustrated in FIGURE 13, the right angle bends103 and 104 engage each other and cooperate to provide a pivot axisbetween the footrest 24 and the rear support 99 and guide the footrestthrough the proper movement. In FIGURE 14, the footrest is shown in itsuppermost position in which it is horizontal and the bent bight portion101 and rod 102 are lying in horizontal planes. The spacing of the rod102 from the footrest rods 90 permits the footrest to be slid in aforward direction with respect to the rear support 99. In movingforward, the studs 107 slide under the detents until the footrest isbrought to the position of FIGURE 15. There, engagement of the studs 107with the detents 106 holds the footrest in the elevated position ofFIGURE 15.

To return the footrest to its lower position, the reverse of theoperation just described is performed. The footrest is slid rearwardlyuntil the studs 107 ride under the detents 106 to the position of FIGURE14. Thereafter, all that is required is a little shove and the front andrear supports 96 and 99 pivot through the position of FIGURE 13 to theposition of FIGURE 12 wherein the footrest is held in a lower positionby the rear support 99 at the rear end and by the engagement of theshoulder 108 with the tubular member 46.

Operation In the operation of the invention, the stroller is normally inthe erect position of FIGURE 1. The telescoping handles can be extendedor retracted to a desired height for convenience of operation. Thestroller is rolled about on its wheels and the vibrations and bumpsoccurring through the engagement of the bumper 47 with any 5 obstaclesare absorbed primarily by the tubular member 46 and the rear horizontalmembers 51. While the members 46 and 51 are free to telescope withrespect to each other during normal operation, thereby permitting astress to -be applied to the intermediate rivet 32, the 10 frictionalengagement of the members 51 with respect to the tubes 50 absorbs thegreatest part of the shock and vibration and relieves the stress on theintermediate rivet 32.

When the stroller is to be folded, the joint on the upper 5 section 38on each side of the stroller is broken and the handle is swung in aforward direction until it folds flat against the forward legs 30. Inthe fiat condition the stroller can be conveniently transported orstored.

I claim:

1. In a walker stroller having at each side a pair of crossed legs andwheels mounted adjacent the lower ends of said legs, and a seatsupported by said legs, a foot supporting structure comprising,

a generally planar, normally horizontal foot rest,

at least one elongated front support pivoted at one end adjacent thelower end of a forward leg and at the other end to said foot rest,

a U-shaped rear support having free ends pivotally connected to saidlegs and having a bight portion sl'idably receiving said foot rest,

cooperating detent means on said rear support and foot rest respectivelyfor releasably holding said foot rest in an elevated horizontalposition.

2. In a walker stroller having at each side a pair of crossed legs andWheels mounted adjacent the lower ends of said legs, and a seatsupported by said legs, a foot supporting structure comprising,

a generally planar, normally horizontal foot rest,

at least one elongated front support pivoted at one end adjacent thelower end of a forward leg and at the other end to said foot rest,

a U-shaped rear support having side rods whose free ends are pivotallyconnected to said legs and having a bight portion slidably receivingsaid foot rest,

transversely projecting studs on the rearward end of said foot rest,

said side rods having detents engageable with said studs when said footrest is elevated and pulled forwardly to hold said foot rest in aforward elevated position.

3. A walker stroller comprising,

a pair of crossed legs at each side of said stroller and pivotedtogether intermediated their ends in scissors fashion,

forward horizontal tubular members on each side of said stroller,

means pivoting the forward ends of said legs to said forward horizontaltubular members,

a generally planar, normally horizontal foot rest,

at least one elongated front support pivoted at one end to saidhorizontal tubular member and at the other end to said foot rest,

a U-shaped rear support having free ends pivotally connected to saidlegs and having a bight portion slidably receiving said foot rest,

cooperating detent means on said rear support and foot rest respectivelyfor releasably holding said foot rest in an elevated horizontalposition,

a pair of front Wheels mounted on said forward members,

rearward horizontal members on each side of said stroller telescopingslidably into said forward members,

means pivoting the rearward ends of said legs to said rearwardhorizontal members,

rear wheels mounted on said rearward members,

a lever pivoted intermediate its ends to one of said rearward horizontalmembers,

a brake shoe at the end of said lever adjacent said wheel, 5

the distance between said lever pivot and said brake shoe being slightlygreater than the distance between said lever pivot and the peripheralsurface of said tire,

the end of said lever remote from said shoe providing a 10 brake releasearm.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,244,155 6/1941Hendrickson et a1. 28036 15 Reinholz 28036 X Moster 28036 Rhodes et a128036 X Quisenberry 28036 Hedstrorn 28036 Hamilton 28036 Flam 28036Meyers 28036 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A WALKER STROLLER HAVING AT EACH SIDE A PAIR OF CROSSED LEGS ANDWHEELS MOUNTED ADJACENT THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID LEGS, AND A SEATSUPPORTED BY SAID LEGS, A FOOT SUPPORTING STRUCTURE COMPRISING, AGENERALLLY PLANAR, NORMALLY HORIZONTAL FOOT REST, AT LEAST ONE ELONGATEDFRONT SUPPORT PIVOTED AT ONE END ADJACENT THE LOWER END OF A FORWARD LEGAND AT THE OTHER END OF SAID FOOT REST, A U-SHAPED REAR SUPPORT HAVINGFREE ENDS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO SAID LEGS AND HAVING A BIGHT PORTIONSLIDABLY RECEIVING SAID FOOT REST,